Value of New Building Contracts
Increased by 4.8% in January

In a sign of the resilience of the economy's construction sector, F.W. Dodge said that the value of new construction projects increased by 4.8% in January from the month before.

New construction contracts rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $480.2 billion, from $458.1 billion the month before, said F.W. Dodge, which is McGraw Hill Cos.' building-research division. New construction was up a revised 0.3% in December. The report is similar to the government's monthly housing-starts report; both gauge the level of new...